Department for Transport

Travel: USA

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with US authorities on  general travel by British citizens from the UK to the US; when he expects such travel to be able to commence again; and if he will make a statement.

Robert Courts: The Secretary of State for Transport has regular contact with the US, including the US Secretary of Transportation. On 20 September the US government confirmed that they will be allowing vaccinated Brits into the US from early November, reciprocating the policy introduced by the UK on 2 August. This demonstrates the hard work and progress made by the UK-US Experts Working Group to restart transatlantic travel and kick start the economy. The Experts Working Group will continue to work together to ensure the return of safe and sustainable international travel.

Electric Vehicles: Bicycles

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of changing the maximum speed of e-bikes from 15.5mph to 20mph, in line with legislation in the US.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Department reviewed the case for amending the current speed and power restrictions as part of the Future of Transport Regulatory Review Call for Evidence published in 2020 and has no plans to amend the existing regulations.

Great Western Railway Line: Electrification

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress he has made on plans to complete the electrification of the Great Western Railway line between Bath and Bristol.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Electrification of the railway between Bath and Bristol has been recognised as a priority in Network Rail’s Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy. We are working with Network Rail to consider how decarbonisation priority investment proposals are taken forward through the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline.

Railways: Employment

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 7 September 2021 to Question 38423, whether no Train Operating Company has informed his Department that they have already started (a) freezing and (b) reducing recruitment of (i) train drivers, (ii) on-board supervisors, (iii) guards or other on-board train crew who have similar duties, (iv) railway despatch operatives and (v) station management staff.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Government has not been informed by Train Operating Companies of any plans deriving from the Enabling Framework Agreement and the work of the Rail Industry Recovery Group.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Green Homes Grant Scheme

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the National Audit Office report on the Green Homes Grant Scheme.

Greg Hands: We are considering the National Audit Office report and its recommendations.

Housing: Carbon Emissions

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to support public engagement on net zero in the Net Zero Strategy in respect of tackling gaps in consumer protections to give people the confidence to make changes to homes.

Greg Hands: The Government’s upcoming Net Zero strategy will look at how the Government can best engage with the public in supporting them to make the right choices when retrofitting their homes and businesses.

Energy: Billing

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what financial support will be made available to low-income households when energy and gas household bills increase on 1 October 2021.

Greg Hands: Ofgem updates the energy price cap to reflect changes in underlying costs, such as purchasing wholesale gas and electricity prices, which are global markets. Wholesale prices are increasing, but the energy price cap still saves 15 million households on default tariffs up to £100 a year. The Government continues to support low income and fuel poor households with their energy bills through the Warm Home Discount which provides eligible households with £140 off their bills. In addition, Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments will help ensure those most vulnerable are better able to heat their homes over the colder months.

Housing: Heating

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to make it easier for people to make energy efficiency improvements to homes and adopt low-carbon heat technologies.

Greg Hands: In 2019 there were around 1.3 million fewer fuel poor households living in the least energy efficiency Band E, F or G rated property compared to 2010. Government is committed to ensuring as many homes as possible reach EPC Band C by 2035 where practical, affordable and cost effective. Support for energy efficiency improvements is available through schemes including the Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery Scheme and the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund. Support for low carbon heating is currently available through the Renewable Heat Incentive, and from April 2022, the Clean Heat Grant will provide support to households switching to low carbon heating. The Government will set out more details of how it will accelerate deployment of energy efficiency and low carbon heating in the forthcoming Heat and Buildings Strategy.

Small Businesses: Carbon Emissions

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps he has taken to support small businesses to contribute to the Government's net zero target.

Greg Hands: Ahead of the UN climate change conference (COP26), the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has launched the Together for Our Planet (TFOP) Business Climate Leaders campaign, aimed at encouraging as many UK small businesses as possible to join the ‘Race to Zero’ – a global effort to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases we all generate to zero by 2050. Small businesses join the Race to Zero via the SME Climate Commitment. Upon making the SME Climate Commitment, UK small businesses gain access to a Together For Our Planet digital toolkit so they can display to customers they are taking action as part of a UN- and Government-backed campaign.

Housing: Carbon Emissions

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will allocate funding for decarbonising the housing stock to help deliver net zero emissions by 2050.

Greg Hands: The Government recognises that decarbonising our country’s 30 million buildings is essential to meet our ambition of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Government is investing £9 billion in improving the energy efficiency of our buildings, including £1.3 billion this financial year.

Oneweb: Satellites

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has for Oneweb to provide the UK’s own sovereign satellite navigation system; and what assessment he has made of the adequacy of a low-earth orbit system to provide satellite navigation services.

George Freeman: The Government’s investment was not predicated on OneWeb’s ability to provide PNT services. Future generations of OneWeb satellites may have the ability to enhance the resilience of a sovereign UK PNT system, together with terrestrial options.

Fossil Fuels

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether at the UN General Assembly the Government discussed the open letter to participating nations from scientists and academics calling on governments to negotiate a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty for the managed global phase out of coal, oil and gas published on 13 September; and if he she make a statement.

Greg Hands: On 31 March 2021, the UK Government implemented its new, world leading policy to no longer provide new direct financial or promotional support for the fossil fuel energy sector overseas. At the G7 Leader’s Summit in June, leaders agreed to phase out new direct government support for international carbon-intensive fossil fuel energy as soon as possible, and to end new direct government support for unabated international thermal coal power generation by the end of 2021. The UK, as COP26 President, welcomes President Xi’s announcement at the UN General Assembly that China will stop building coal fired power projects abroad and increase support for renewable energy in developing countries, and the Republic of Korea’s April commitment to end its international public finance for coal power plants.

Department of Health and Social Care

Hospitals: North West

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which acute hospitals declared major incidents in (a) Cheshire, (b) Merseyside and (c) the North West on (i) 1 August 2021 and (ii) 2 September 2021.

Edward Argar: No major incidents were declared.

Health Services: Weather

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of winter 2021-22 on the NHS;  and what mitigation measures he has put in place to prevent any crisis in the NHS during that period.

Edward Argar: NHS England and NHS Improvement are working with National Health Service providers to ensure appropriate operational plans are in place for winter, including meeting potential increases in the demand for emergency care driven by seasonal flu and COVID-19.We have launched the largest ever seasonal flu vaccination programme and COVID-19 booster vaccines for priority groups and provided an additional £1 billion this year to address backlogs in elective care.

Coronavirus: Hospitals

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the total cost has been of setting up and closing down the Nightingale hospitals introduced in response to the covid-19 outbreak.

Edward Argar: Total projected funding for the Nightingale hospital programme was agreed and separately ring-fenced at £466 million.National Health Service providers are currently auditing their accounts for 2020-21 and the final spending outturn against this funding will be published in due course.

Department of Health and Social Care: Hutchison Ports UK

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions and meetings (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have held with Hutchison Group on delays to shipments at Felixstowe port.

Edward Argar: There have been no such discussions or meetings.

Teignmouth Hospital

Anne Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to make a decision on the future of Teignmouth Hospital.

Edward Argar: Following the original request to refer from Devon County Council Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee on 25 March 2021, the Department has been in regular correspondence with them to secure additional information needed to assess whether to refer this case to the Independent Reconfiguration Panel. This information has now been received and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care will make a decision in due course.

NHS: Migrant Workers

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason working families without permanent residence in the UK, who pay income tax and National Insurance, are also required to pay NHS surcharges.

Edward Argar: The National Health Service is a residency-based healthcare system, meaning that people who do not live here on a lawful, settled basis must contribute to the cost of their care, regardless of individual tax status. All temporary migrants of more than six months are subject to the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) at the point of visa application. This allows them to access NHS services without further charge while they are here with some exceptions. The IHS ensures that individuals do not face unexpected treatment bills and reduces the administrative burden on frontline staff of identifying chargeable patients and recovering charges.

Attorney General

Attorney General: Flags

Justin Madders: To ask the Attorney General, how many and what proportion of Union Jack flags purchased by her Department in each of the last two years were manufactured in the UK.

Justin Madders: To ask the Attorney General, if she will list the companies that have supplied Union Jack flags to her Department since 2019.

Alex Chalk: The Attorney General’s Office (AGO), Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Serious Fraud Office (SFO), Government Legal Department (GLD) and Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) have not purchased any Union Flags over the last two years.

Department for Education

Alternative Education: Sex and Relationship Education

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that children not in mainstream education receive relationship and sex education.

Mr Robin Walker: Relationships education is compulsory for all primary school pupils, relationships and sex education is compulsory for all secondary school pupils, and health education is compulsory for pupils in all state-funded schools. This includes pupils in special schools and pupil referral units. In teaching the new curriculum, schools must have regard to the statutory guidance. To support all teachers to deliver the curriculum, the department has developed a package of support which can be accessed via this link: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health. To further support teachers of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), we have delivered a national webinar as well as regional training events for primary and secondary schools:https://www.pshe-association.org.uk/content/send-hub;https://nasen.org.uk/resources/supporting-effective-delivery-new-statutory-rshe-curriculum-pupils-send-primary-focused;https://nasen.org.uk/resources/supporting-effective-delivery-new-statutory-rshe-curriculum-pupils-send-secondary-focused.We have also developed a teacher training module specifically about teaching relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) to pupils with SEND: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health#pupils-with-send. As with other aspects of the curriculum, schools have flexibility over how they deliver RSHE, so they can develop an integrated approach that is sensitive to the needs and background of their pupils.

Home Education

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of children who are being home-schooled in England.

Mr Robin Walker: The department does not collect data on children who are home educated. We are aware of the rising number of home-educated children.The department supports the right of parents to educate their children at home. Most do so with the best education of their child at the centre of their decision. The rising numbers of home educated children cannot be overlooked. For some parents, the child’s education is not the primary reason behind the decision to home educate, which can mean that some children are not being provided with a suitable education.The government remains committed to a form of registration system for children not in school. Further details on this will be in the government response to the ‘Children Not in School’ consultation, which the department will publish in coming months.

National Tutoring Programme

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure timely approval of tutoring organisations for the National Tutoring Programme in the context of 16 of those organisations having not yet been approved.

Mr Robin Walker: Our delivery partner, Randstad, has approved 38 Tuition Partners to provide high-quality, subsidised tuition to schools in the current academic year: https://nationaltutoring.org.uk/tuition-partners/approved-tuition-partners/. These organisations were recruited via an open competition to meet the necessary quality standards.The programme ensures that additional support has been allocated to regions with the largest numbers of disadvantaged pupils and in regions where access to tutoring has historically been lower. This will cover all the locations across the UK geographically.Schools can access high-quality tutoring from an approved list of tutoring providers known as tuition partners. Each tuition partner has been robustly assessed and has passed a set of quality, safeguarding and evaluation standards. Tuition partners offer a range of subjects and provide targeted support for pupils in small group or one-to-one sessions. This offers additional tutoring capacity to schools, especially where this is scarce. It is a flexible service for schools and its selection of providers can tailor their expertise to support pupil needs.

Organs: Donors

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will bring forward legislative proposals on the teaching of organ donation in post-primary education settings.

Mr Robin Walker: The national curriculum includes content that can be used by teachers as an opportunity to inform pupils about organ donation. For example, pupils are taught about this as part of the Key Stage 4 science curriculum. The national curriculum is compulsory in state-maintained schools and is often used as a benchmark by academies and free schools.Since September 2020, it has been compulsory for schools to teach relationships education to primary school-aged pupils, relationships and sex education to secondary school-aged pupils and health education to all pupils in state-maintained schools. The statutory guidance on relationships, sex and health education sets out that by the end of secondary school, pupils should know about the science relating to blood, organ and stem cell donation.The department has published teacher training modules, including online modules for primary and secondary teachers containing key knowledge and facts to help teachers understand what they must teach in relation to the new requirements. This can be done flexibly and can include teaching about organ donation.As with other aspects of the curriculum, schools continue to have flexibility over how they deliver important topics and use their autonomy and local community knowledge to do this.Health education in schools in Northern Ireland are matters for the Department of Education for Northern Ireland.

Ministry of Justice

Sexual Offences: Rehabilitation

Tonia Antoniazzi: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 15 July to Question 29878 on Sexual Offences: Rehabilitation, how many and what proportion of biologically male transgender prisoners in the male estate have accessed accredited Sex Offender Treatment Programmes in each of the last five years.

Victoria Atkins: The data HMPPS hold on transgender prisoners (published in the annual HMPPS Offender Equalities Report) is snapshot data and importantly has not historically included prisoners who have a Gender Recognition Certificate, due to legal restrictions. There was no data gathering exercise in 2020 due to the pandemic. HMPPS are actively working on ways to improve the scope and quality of data held on transgender prisoners while still respecting their rights and privacy. Analysis of accredited programme participation for each year’s transgender offender cohort requires a data matching exercise as these pieces of information are held in separate data sets. A response could only be obtained at disproportionate costs as the analyses would be new and require significant resource to ensure accuracy and reliability.

Parole: Reviews

Dr Luke Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent progress has been made on reviewing the parole system.

Kit Malthouse: As announced in October 2020, a Root and Branch Review of the parole system is currently underway. This review will draw together the reforms and changes that have taken place in the parole system in recent years. It is focusing on issues such as the future constitution of the Parole Board, ways in which to improve the overall transparency of the parole system, the possibility of public parole hearings in some cases and allowing for victims to observe hearings if they wish. This will fulfil our manifesto commitments made before the last general election. The full terms of reference of the Review can be read here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/parole-system-reform/terms-of-reference I intend to report on the progress of the Root and Branch Review later this year.

Treasury

Housing: Construction

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will have discussions with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on Community Led Housing in respect of the number of community led homes that could be built with £65 million of additional Government funding; if he will make it his Department's policy to increase the Community Housing Fund in the upcoming Spending Review; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Simon Clarke: The Government recognises that the community-led housing sector offers significant potential for helping to meet housing need across the country. Discussions on the upcoming Spending Review will cover a range of important issues.

Health and Social Care Levy

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the Health and Social Care Levy on working people drawing their state pension.

Mr Simon Clarke: Alongside the announcement of the Health and Social Care Levy, the government has published a number of documents that set out the impact of the policy, including distributional analysis and a Tax Information and Impact Note.

NHS: Finance

Mr Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what additional funding has been provided to the NHS as a result of the UK’s departure from the EU and statements made during the 2016 referendum campaign.

Mr Simon Clarke: The NHS is a key spending priority for the government and that is why it committed in 2018 to a historic settlement that provides a cash increase of £33.9 billion a year by 2023-24. The announcement was clear that “some of the extra funding will come from the money the government will no longer spend on the annual membership subscription to the European Union after Britain has left” Since then, we have gone even further, and announced a new Health and Social Care Levy which will provide a further £15.7bn to the NHS over the next 3 years.

Treasury: Flags

Justin Madders: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which companies have supplied Union Jack flags to his Department since 2019.

Justin Madders: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of the Union Jack flags purchased by his Department in each of the last two years were manufactured in the UK.

Helen Whately: All Union flags purchased by the Treasury since January 2019 were manufactured in the UK.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Military Alliances: Australia and USA

Owen Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps the Government plans to take to brief (a) NATO, (b) G7 nations and (c) European allies on developments relating to AUKUS.

James Cleverly: The UK will continue to engage NATO, G7, European, and other partners on defence and security matters, including the recent Australia-United Kingdom-United States (AUKUS) agreement, through our regular bilateral and multilateral channels.

Military Alliances: Australia and USA

Owen Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what provisions will form part of the AUKUS agreement to ensure that that agreement does not lead to potential future breaches of obligations in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

James Cleverly: We take our obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) extremely seriously and remain strongly committed to full implementation of the NPT in all its aspects.It is too soon to talk about specifics, but Australia has impeccable non-proliferation credentials and does not - and will not - seek nuclear weapons. All three AUKUS parties (Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) are committed to ensuring progress on this agreement will be consistent with our international obligations, including our respective safeguards obligations, which we will investigate in the 18 month programme of work.

Iraq: Turkey

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of recent reports that the Turkish army attacked a refugee camp in the Zaxo region of Northern Iraq on 30 August 2021 housing Yazidi refugees displaced during the ISIS genocide.

James Cleverly: We are aware of reports of an explosion in a refugee camp in Zaxo in Northern Iraq on 30 August. Allegations of attacks against refugee camps are deeply concerning. We continue to reiterate the importance of dialogue and cooperation between Iraq and Turkey to combat terrorism, ensure regional security and protect civilians. We welcome discussions between Iraqi and Turkish Defence Ministers regarding Ankara's military operations against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a proscribed terrorist group, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The Foreign Secretary discussed the stability of Iraq and the KRI with the President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, President Nechirvan Barzani, during his visit to London on the 15-17 September.

France: Foreign Relations

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has had discussions with her French counterpart on reported allegations that President Macron has obstructed plans for an Anglo-French summit.

Wendy Morton: Ministers at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office regularly engage with their French counterparts to discuss a wide range of issues in the bilateral relationship. Following her appointment on 15 September, a meeting between the Foreign Secretary and her counterpart is being arranged.

Refugees: Afghanistan

Sarah Owen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, in the context of the evacuation of people to the UK from Afghanistan following the Taliban offensive in summer 2021, what plans he has to evaluate the effectiveness of the Government's ability to respond to casework from hon. Members during an emergency situation.

Amanda Milling: Responding to MPs' cases and correspondence remains a top priority for the Government and the FCDO has been working tirelessly to undertake the task. Staff from across the global FCDO network have been pulled into the crisis surge team along with colleagues from MOD and HMRC. We have received over 200,000 emails and had multiple shifts of over 100 people working throughout the day and night, 7 days a week to deliver and will continue to prioritise incoming correspondence. As we always do following a major crisis, we will be conducting an internal review to learn lessons to inform our response to future crises.

Afghanistan: British Nationals Abroad

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what advice her Department is providing to British nationals in Afghanistan on where they are able to access medical treatments.

Amanda Milling: FCDO Travel Advice for Afghanistan is regularly updated to keep British nationals informed of developments. There continue to be very limited medical facilities available in Afghanistan and access is likely to be greatly reduced due to the deteriorating situation. Work continues to explore all possible avenues to ensure that any British nationals who remain in Afghanistan are able to leave safely if they wish to do so. We have asked all British nationals in Afghanistan to register their presence with us and we are working to verify all those who have submitted their details.

Iran: Climate Change

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will take steps at the COP26 summit to establish an international mechanism to help prevent the Government-led crackdown on environmentalists and water shortage protests in Iran under the new president, Ebrahim Raisi.

James Cleverly: The UK has designated Iran as a Human Rights Priority Country and we continue to take action with the international community to press Iran to improve its poor human rights record. This will include using all opportunities during the upcoming United Nations General Assembly session. We call on President Raisi to set Iran on a different course, which includes committing to improving human rights in Iran.

Afghanistan: Chevening Scholarships Programme

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether her Department is taking steps to provide safe passage out of Afghanistan to Afghan Chevening scholars; and what his Department's policy is on the level of priority Afghan Chevening scholars have for UK Government support.

Amanda Milling: Between 15 and 29 August, the UK evacuated over 15,000 people from Afghanistan. That includes: over 8,000 British Nationals, close to 5,000 Afghans who loyally served the UK, along with their dependents, and around 500 special cases of particularly vulnerable Afghans, including Chevening scholars, journalists, human rights defenders, campaigners for women's rights, judges and many others. All these figures include dependants.All offers made to Afghan Chevening scholars for 2021-22 are valid. We successfully evacuated the majority of Afghan Chevening scholars in this year's cohort and will continue to do all we can to support the small number who remain in Afghanistan. We are clear that the Taliban must ensure safe passage for these people out of Afghanistan and any engagement with them will emphasise this first and foremost.The Chevening Secretariat is in touch with all Afghan Chevening scholars and their families, and is liaising with universities, local authorities and the Home Office to help scholars access support in the UK. Afghan scholars and their families who travelled in evacuation flights have automatically been granted an initial 6 months leave to remain in the UK. This means that those scholars and their dependents can work, study, receive healthcare and apply for support with accommodation and living costs. The Home Office is offering all Afghan arrivals bridging accommodation, if they have not yet been able to identify permanent accommodation. Scholars entering from third countries will come on student visas.

Afghanistan: Chevening Scholarships Programme

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many (a) former and (b) current Afghan Chevening Scholars have entry clearance to arrive in the UK; how many of those scholars have arrived since April 2021 under (i) the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) or (ii) another entry policy; if he will provide details of all entry policies through which former and current Chevening Scholars can arrive in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Amanda Milling: Between 15 and 29 August, the UK evacuated over 15,000 people from Afghanistan. Approximately 500 of these are special cases of particularly vulnerable Afghans, including Chevening scholars, journalists, human rights defenders, campaigners for women's rights, judges and many others. All these figures include dependants.All offers made to Afghan Chevening scholars for 2021-22 are valid. We successfully evacuated the majority of Afghan Chevening scholars in this year's cohort and will continue to do all we can to support the small number who remain in Afghanistan. We are clear that the Taliban must ensure safe passage out of Afghanistan and any engagement with the Taliban will emphasise this first and foremost.The Chevening Secretariat is in touch with all Afghan Chevening scholars and their families, and is liaising with universities, local authorities and the Home Office to help scholars access support in the UK. Afghan scholars and their families who travelled in evacuation flights have automatically been granted an initial 6 months leave to remain in the UK. This means that those scholars and their dependents can work, study, receive healthcare and apply for support with accommodation and living costs. The Home Office is offering all Afghan arrivals bridging accommodation, if they have not yet been able to identify permanent accommodation. Scholars entering from third countries will come on student visas.

Afghanistan: Repatriation

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions her predecessor had with his counterparts in Pakistan and other neighbouring countries to establish safe routes out of Afghanistan, prior to August 2021.

Amanda Milling: Between 23 August 2019 and 18 August 2021 the previous Foreign Secretary and Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon met or contacted their counterparts from Afghanistan's neighbours over fifty times to discuss Afghanistan and to advance the Government's priorities in relation to that country. Key engagements for the previous Foreign Secretary included: on 28 June 2021 participating in the Global Coalition Against DAESH Ministerial Meeting in Italy; and on 29 June 2021 meeting with India's Minister of External Affairs Jaishankar and Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu. For Lord Ahmad, these included: meeting External Affairs Minister Jaishankar, Foreign Secretary Shringla, Justice Minister Prasad and Home Minister Reddy during a visit to India between 14 and 20 March 2021; meeting Prime Minister Khan and Foreign Minister Qureshi during a visit to Pakistan between 23 and 24 June 2021; and meeting Uzbek Foreign Minister Kamilov during a visit to Tashkent on 15 and 16 July 2021.

Uyghur Tribunal

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether officials in her Department have had discussions with their Chinese counterparts on the Uyghur Tribunal chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice QC.

Amanda Milling: The Chinese Ambassador had an introductory meeting with the former Minister for Asia, Nigel Adams MP, on 8 September, where the issue of the Uyghur Tribunal was raised. The former Minister for Asia reiterated the UK Government's deep concern about the human rights situation in Xinjiang, and made clear that the UK Government would not interfere with the tribunal's work.

Afghanistan: Asylum

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she is having with the Government of Qatar on (a) evacuation of Hazara families and (b) bringing Hazara families to the UK under the Afghan Citizens' Resettlement Scheme.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she is having with the Government of Qatar on (a) evacuation of LGBT+ people and (b) bringing LGBT+ people to the UK under the Afghan Citizens' Resettlement Scheme.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she is having with the Government of Qatar on (a) evacuation of Christians and (b) bringing Christians to the UK under the Afghan Citizens' Resettlement Scheme.

Amanda Milling: Minister for Human Rights Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon addressed the UN Human Rights Council on 24 August to underscore the UK's commitment to protecting the human rights of all Afghan people. The UK also led work on the recent UN Security Council resolution, demonstrating our commitment to holding the Taliban to account on human rights. We are working urgently with neighbouring countries to ensure that at-risk Afghans who are eligible to come to the UK can secure for safe passage, including through the former Foreign Secretary's visit to Qatar between 1 and 3 September. Our Embassy to Afghanistan has temporarily relocated to Qatar to lead our diplomatic, security and humanitarian engagement and a Rapid Deployment Team has been deployed to help those in transit. The UK is formally launching a resettlement programme, the Afghan Citizens' Resettlement Scheme, providing a safe and legal route for up to 20,000 Afghans in the region over the coming years, with 5,000 in the first year. This scheme will include Afghans who face a particular risk from the Taliban, for example because of their role in standing up for democracy and human rights or because of their gender, sexuality or religion.

Department for Work and Pensions

Personal Care Services: Industrial Diseases

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council has made on its review of lung cancer and COPD in former employees of the health and beauty industry.

Chloe Smith: The Industrial Injuries Advisory Council have recently commissioned a comprehensive review and evaluation of the literature, including epidemiology, on work-related malignant and non-malignant respiratory diseases, primarily focussing on lung cancer and COPD. The broad remit of the review will cover former employees of the health and beauty industry and associated exposures. The review, which is about to commence, will inform the prescriptions for the purposes of Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefits. The review is expected to take up to two years to complete, after which time the Council will report on its findings.

Work Capability Assessments

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to address the backlog of people waiting for work capability assessments.

Chloe Smith: We are currently delivering health assessments through a variety of channels. We have reintroduced face-to-face assessments, alongside the telephone and video assessments introduced in response to the pandemic. Whenever possible we will conduct a paper based assessment.We are always looking at ways to improve the assessment process and continue to work with the assessment provider to maximise the number of WCAs completed.

Social Security Benefits: Multiple Sclerosis

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with multiple sclerosis applying for benefits have been unable to have a phone assessment and have had to wait for a face-to-face assessment since March 2020.

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with multiple sclerosis have had their award changed at the mandatory reconsideration stage after being assessed by phone for personal independence payment since March 2020.

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with multiple sclerosis have submitted a mandatory reconsideration after being assessed by phone for personal independence payment since March 2020.

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with multiple sclerosis have been assessed by phone for personal independence payment since March 2020.

Chloe Smith: The specific information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. Telephone assessments only commenced for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in late March 2020 and were then used as one of the alternatives to face to face assessments. For the two providers of medical assessments this was on 23rd March 2020 (Capita) and 6th April 2020 (IAS) respectively.Therefore, the majority of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments after March 2020 would have been by telephone, with some paper- based and video call assessments. Where it was not possible to carry out a PIP telephone assessment decisions were made on paper using all the available evidence to ensure any payment was not delayed. We do not readily hold the information on how assessments were carried out for specific conditions.Face to face assessments for Work Capability Assessments (WCAs) for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Universal Credit (UC) were re-introduced in May. They have initially focused on claimants who we have been unable to assess fully by other means. Paper-based assessments, as before the COVID-19 pandemic, are considered in the first instance, and telephone assessments and video assessments introduced in response to the pandemic continue to take place where appropriate.

Personal Independence Payment

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Written Statement of 20 September 2021, Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Update, HCWS294, what additional support her Department plans to provide to those who request it and whose PIP claim is awaiting review as part of the Administrative Exercise.

Chloe Smith: We are committed to ensuring that claimants receive the PIP support they are entitled to. The Department is contacting claimants who may be affected and we may ask for further information about the help they needed. We want to ensure we have all the relevant evidence when making a decision and get the right outcome for claimants when reviewing their claim, as part of the administrative exercise.We recognise that the Department comes into contact with some claimants who are potentially very vulnerable. That is why claimants with a severe mental health or behavioural condition, learning disability, developmental disorder or cognitive problems, who may have difficulty engaging with the process, and with no support network in place, can be provided with additional support during the process if they need it.This support can include arranging to speak to a representative, carer or other support worker at a convenient time and allowing additional time to provide further information. Where we identify there may be an impact on health, safety and wellbeing of an individual when they receive an arrears payment as part of the exercise, we will work with claimants to understand their needs and seek to help them in identifying and accessing the help that they require.

Government Departments: Disability

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will outline the responsibilities of Disability Ministerial Champions set out in the National Disability Strategy.

Chloe Smith: The first Ministerial Disability Champions were appointed in summer 2020, at the request of the Prime Minister, to drive the development and delivery of the National Disability Strategy.Their role includes championing disabled people and driving the delivery of the National Disability Strategy in their respective departments.An updated list of Departmental Ministerial Disability Champions will be announced shortly, and published on GOV.UK.

Job Centres: Hearing Impairment

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department plans to take to help ensure that all Job Centre Plus sites are accessible to people with hearing loss.

Chloe Smith: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is committed to making its services accessible for all its customers together with those who may have additional communication needs including hearing loss.Deaf and hard of hearing customers visiting Jobcentres are able to access different support based on how hearing loss affects their communication needs. Job Centres are equipped and currently provide mainly portable, but also some fixed hearing loops across the network, for those customers with hearing loss. There is a new initiative to improve our environments for disabled customers and those with health conditions which will include people with hearing loss. This work is due to start in October.  For those customers who are deaf or hard of hearing and attending a prearranged appointment with DWP, staff will already be aware of the customer’s communication needs from DWP’s computer systems and have access to a language services contract to pre-book an interpreter to support face to face contact. The interpreter will be skilled in providing non-spoken language support including British Sign Language (BSL).Furthermore, a Disability Employment Adviser (DEA) is assigned to each Jobcentre site. The DEA is skilled in understanding the needs of disabled customers, including those who with hearing loss. The DEA provides support to Work Coaches to ensure that Work Coaches are able to increase their awareness and empathy when dealing with customers who have hearing loss.The Employer and Partnerships role within DWP forms effective networks with a variety of local stakeholders, including organisations and charities that support customers with hearing loss. These relationships are vital to ensure that DWP is able to provide consistent and effective support to its customers.On a national level, DWP has established a range of networks with its stakeholders to provide a voice for the customer. The Taskforce for Accessible Information, the Reasonable Adjustments Forum and the Operational Stakeholder Engagement Forum all regularly meet with a cross section of groups representing disabilities including those with hearing loss. The purpose of these forums are to ensure that DWP elicits feedback and insight into how its services are being used by those with additional communication needs and to seek continuous improvement.Following the expansion of Video Relay Service last year, whereby deaf customers are now able to make an inbound telephone call to DWP via a British Sign Language interpreter using a video connection, DWP is currently exploring how this technology can be adapted to support video remote interpreting. This will increase the flexibility for DWP to conduct face to face and telephony based contact with deaf and hard of hearing customers.

Government Departments: Disability

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to update the list of Departmental Ministerial Disability Champions as announced in the National Disability Strategy after the Government reshuffle on 15 September 2021.

Chloe Smith: The updated list of Departmental Ministerial Disability Champions will be announced shortly, and published on GOV.UK.Ministerial Disability Champions drive the delivery of the National Disability Strategy in their respective departments.

Long Covid: Government Assistance

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of financial support requirements of people with long covid.

Chloe Smith: This government has a strong safety net that helps people who are facing hardship and are unable to support themselves financially, and we have taken steps to strengthen that safety net as part of the government’s response to the pandemic. Disability benefits do not include or exclude by condition, instead they look at the needs arising from a long-term health condition or disability. People living with a condition arising from exposure to the Covid-19 virus can access the financial support that is available through Statutory Sick Pay, Universal Credit, New Style ESA or Pension Credit depending on individual circumstances. They are also able to access Personal Independence Payment in the same way as other people with long-term conditions or disabilities. As research into the long-term health symptoms and impacts of Covid-19 is ongoing, we are collaborating across Government to monitor emerging evidence and consider our response.

Kickstart Scheme

Selaine Saxby: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Kickstart scheme placements have been (a) approved, (b) advertised and (c) started by young people by (i) nation, (ii) region and (iii) sector.

Mims Davies: As of the 22nd September, over 76,900 young people have started a Kickstart job. Over 196,300 roles have been made available for young people to apply to through the scheme and over 295,000 jobs have been approved for funding. Below are tables listing the number of Kickstart jobs which have been made available and started by young people to date by geographical area of Great Britain and work sector. The figures used are correct as of the 22nd September and these figures have been rounded according to departmental standards. From 26/08/21 to 22/09/21 an average of over 3,600 young people started on the scheme each week. Although care is taken when processing and analysing Kickstart applications, referrals and starts, the data collected might be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system, which has been developed quickly. The management information presented here has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics, but is provided in the interests of transparency. Work is ongoing to improve the quality of information available for the programme. LocationJobs Made AvailableTotal Jobs StartedEast Midlands12,3004,710East of England15,5005,430London40,80016,670North East7,8003,610North West24,6009,830Scotland14,8006,710South East22,4008,280South West14,4005,080Wales10,9003,740West Midlands17,6006,940Yorkshire and The Humber15,2005,970*These numbers are rounded and so may not match provided totals. Jobs Made Available include 1,000 non-grant funded vacancies and Total Starts include around 900 starts to non-grant funded jobs   SectorJobs Made AvailableTotal Jobs StartedAdministration48,70019,350Animal Care1,000610Beauty & Wellbeing1,400610Business & Finance7,0002,840Computing Technology & Digital13,6006,640Construction & Trades6,0002,420Creative & Media15,4007,710Delivery & Storage5,6002,190Emergency & Uniform Services500170Engineering & Maintenance6,4002,390Environment & Land3,7001,590Government Services700190Healthcare5,4001,640Home Services1,500400Hospitality & Food21,9006,060Law & Legal400240Managerial1,100390Manufacturing5,1002,080Retail & Sales30,40012,580Science & Research800370Social Care4,8001,220Sports & Leisure4,6001,910Teaching & Education9,1002,980Transport600160Travel & Tourism600230*These numbers are rounded and so may not match provided totals. Jobs Made Available include 1,000 non-grant funded vacancies and Total Starts include around 900 starts to non-grant funded jobs

Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many of he 33 claims made to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme on behalf of people who have died over the last five years have (a) concluded and (b) resulted in a positive outcome.

Chloe Smith: Of the 33 claims in the last five years, 6 have concluded, with one resulting in an award.

Disability: Coronavirus

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to measure the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on people with disabilities.

Chloe Smith: We are committed to ensuring all disabled people can play a full role in society. That is why we published the National Disability Strategy on 28 July which takes into account the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on disabled people and focuses on the issues that disabled people say affect them the most in all aspects of life. The impact of COVID-19 on disabled people, and those with health conditions, continues to be monitored across Government using a range of sources including regular engagement with disabled people and disability stakeholders to ensure the needs of disabled people are considered in the Government’s response to, and recovery from COVID-19 The Disability Unit is also working with the Office for National Statistics to improve our understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on disabled people. We are learning as much as we can, as quickly as we can about this virus, who it affects and how best to keep everyone safe from it and protect those who may be more vulnerable than others.

Universal Credit

Angela Crawley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the removal of the £20 universal credit uplift on child poverty in (a) Lanark and Hamilton East constituency and (b) other areas of deprivation.

David Rutley: It is not possible to produce a robust estimate of the impact of removing the £20 uplift on child poverty. This is particularly the case at the moment given the uncertainty around the speed of the economic recovery, and how this will be distributed across the population.The Chancellor announced a temporary six-month extension to the £20 per week uplift at the Budget on 3 March to support households affected by the economic shock of Covid-19. Universal Credit has provided a vital safety net for six million people during the pandemic, and the temporary uplift was part of a COVID support package worth a total of £407 billion in 2020-21 and 2021-22.There have been significant positive developments in the public health situation since the uplift was first introduced. With the success of the vaccine rollout and record job vacancies, it is right that our focus is on helping people back into work. Helping parents to move into and remain in work offers the best opportunity for families to move out of poverty and to improve children’s long-term outcomes. A child living in a household where every adult is working is about 5 times less likely to be in absolute poverty (before housing costs) than a child in a household where nobody works.Through our Plan for Jobs, we are targeting tailored support schemes of people of all ages to help them prepare for, get into and progress in work. These include: Kickstart, delivering tens of thousands of six-month work placements for Universal Credit claimants aged 16-24 at risk of unemployment; Restart, which provides 12 months’ intensive employment support to Universal Credit claimants who are unemployed for a year; and JETS, which provides light touch employment support for people who are claiming either Universal Credit or New Style Jobseekers Allowance, for up to 6 months, helping participants effectively re-engage with the labour market and focus their job search. We have also recruited an additional 13,500 work coaches to provide more intensive support to find a job. In total, our Plan for Jobs interventions will support more than two million people.This Government is wholly committed to supporting those on low incomes, and continues to do so through many measures, including by increasing the living wage, and by spending over £111 billion on welfare support for people of working age in 2021/22.This year, we are also investing up to £220m in the Holiday Activities and Food programme, which has been expanded to every Local Authority across England. Participating children will benefit from a range of support, including a healthy and nutritious meal as well as fun and engaging activities covering the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays in 2021. We also increased the value of Healthy Start Food Vouchers from £3.10 to £4.25 in April, which helps eligible low income households buy basic foods like milk, fruit and vitamins.

Children: Poverty

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate her Department has made of the proportion of children in relative poverty where at least one adult in that household is in employment in (a) Coventry North East constituency and (b) Coventry in each of the last five years.

David Rutley: We do not hold information on the composition of children who are in relative poverty by work status at the household level. However, the proportion of children in relative low income, before housing costs, where at least one adult in that family is in employment for Coventry North East constituency and Coventry for the five years to 2019/20 can be extracted using the Children in Low Income Families dataset on https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/ Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Slaughterhouses

Chris Loder: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will commission the Foods Standards Agency to undertake a survey on methods of slaughter earlier than 2022 as planned.

Victoria Prentis: Defra has been working with the Food Standards Agency on the design of a slaughter survey to take place in February 2022. The timing of the survey has been carefully selected to represent a typical week for the meat processing industry, avoiding religious festivals, and for consistency with the previous survey.This timescale also reflects the intention to build bespoke data collection and analysis software to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the survey. It is our plan to collect data on a more regular basis in future and the new software will enable us to do this.

Fisheries

Neil Parish: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he (a) has made and (b) plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of using powers under The Common Fisheries Policy and Aquaculture (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 to apply trade sanctions on relevant stocks against a nation State that is overfishing, for the purposes of securing the most advantageous deals for the UK fishing industry.

Victoria Prentis: Powers set out under Retained Regulation (EU) No 1026/2012 on certain measures for the purpose of the conservation of fish stocks in relation to countries allowing non-sustainable fishing. The measures can include targeted trade sanctions on the species that has been caught. Sustainable fishing remains a priority for UK and we continue to consult a range of countries through bilateral and multilateral engagement to agree suitable harvest control rules to prevent overfishing.

Home Office

Chevening Scholarships Programme: Afghanistan

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has been contacted by Afghan Chevening scholars in the last three weeks; and what her Department's policy is on eligibility of Afghan Chevening scholars for Government support.

Kevin Foster: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Refugees: Afghanistan

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, by what mechanism she estimates the number of people who have crossed borders to third countries from Afghanistan who will qualify for the Afghan citizens' resettlement scheme; and on what basis the cap of 5,000 was decided for help under that scheme.

Kevin Foster: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Refugees: Afghanistan

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the resources needed to bring forward the Government's 20,000 resettlement commitment over 5 years under the Afghan citizens' resettlement scheme to 1 year; if she will make it her policy to increase the UK's current resettlement commitment; and if she will make a statement.

Kevin Foster: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Asylum: Afghanistan

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the accommodation for refugees and asylum seekers arriving from Afghanistan.

Kevin Foster: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

National Security

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of national security threats to the UK posed by Iran and its new president Ebrahim Raisi.

Damian Hinds: The safety and security of our citizens is the Government’s top priority. In March of this year, we made clear in the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy that we are committed to addressing growing threats from Iran, as well as other states. We will continue to use all tools at our disposal to protect the UK and our interests from any Iran-based threats.

Asylum: Employment

Dame Meg Hillier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers have been granted permission to work as a result of the time taken for her Department process their case in last 12 months.

Kevin Foster: The Home Office are unable to state how many asylum seekers have been granted permission to work as a result of the time take taken for the Department to process their cases in the last 12 months as the data is only held on paper case files or within the notes sections of the Home Office's databases. Therefore, the number of asylum seekers granted permission to work is not held in a reportable format.However, the Home Office do publish data on the number asylum applications awaiting an initial decision or further review and can be found at Asy_04 of the published Immigration Statistics, Asylum applications awaiting a decision, by duration:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets#asylum-applications-decisions-and-resettlement

Afghanistan: Immigration

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what (a) funding and (b) staff resources have been allocated to the 44 (0)2475 389980 number for non-UK passport holders in Afghanistan since it opened.

Kevin Foster: Funding has been put in place to manage the contact to the helpline and facilitate the set up and staffing to manage this line. The volumes have been closely monitored in line with staffing and we are working on the final funding for this.The department continue to closely monitor and review the volume of calls being made to the helpline; as the volumes have significantly reduced over the period since the line opened we have reviewed staffing in line with requirements. At its peak the line had up to 500 FTE staff available to be deployed.

Cars: Theft

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many car thefts related to exploits in keyless technology have been recorded in (a) Birmingham and (b) the West Midlands in each of the last five years.

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps recent steps she has taken to work with manufacturers to reduce car thefts using exploits in keyless technology.

Kit Malthouse: The Home Office doesn’t hold data on the number of car thefts related to exploits in keyless technology.The Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) collects data on car theft incidents and method of entry, which has, since April 2018, included the method of ‘Offender manipulated signal from remote locking device’. Comparable data prior April 2018 are not available. Due to lower levels of responses to these CSEW questions, it is not possible to break the data down by region or city.The most recently available data is available at Table_3 below:Nature of crime: vehicle-related theft - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)The Government is tackling vehicle crime as a priority. We continue to work closely with police and motor manufacturers through the National Vehicle Crime Working Group, established by the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime and overseen by the Government’s Crime and Justice Taskforce. This includes consideration of how we can reduce the number of vehicles being stolen.

Airports: Licensing Laws

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 6 April 2020 to Question 25059, on Licensing Laws: Aviation, when she plans to publish her Department's response to the consultation on airside alcohol licensing at international airports in England and Wales, which closed on 1 February 2019.

Kit Malthouse: We plan to publish the response to the consultation on airside alcohol licensing in the near future.

Football Banning Orders

Carla Lockhart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people in the UK have been issued with football banning orders in each of the last five years.

Kit Malthouse: The Home Office publishes annual figures on the number of football banning orders issued each year. The latest figures for the last five years are available from tables 1 to 4 of the ‘Football-related arrests and banning orders’ publication.

Theft: Criminal Investigation

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to improve the effectiveness of the investigation of suspected (a) theft and (b) dog theft offences.

Kit Malthouse: Investigation of suspected theft is a matter for the police. The Government is committed to recruiting 20,000 more police officers in England and Wales by March 2023. Despite the challenges of COVID-19, the police have now recruited an extra 9,814 officers, 49% of the 20,000-officer target.We recognise the distress dog and indeed all pet theft causes and are committed to doing more to prevent these cruel crimes. As part of the work of the Government’s Pet Theft Taskforce, which launched on 8 May, we have assembled evidence and considered the issue from end to end, including causes, prevention, reporting, enforcement and prosecution.The report of the Taskforce was published on 2 September and as well as recommending a new pet abduction offence, the Taskforce recommended the Government continues to work with the police to improve consistent recording and data collection of pet thefts, and makes improvements to pet microchipping to support the identification of lost and stolen dogs.The report of the Taskforce can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pet-theft-taskforce-report

Students: Finance

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Education on raising awareness for prospective applicants to student finance of the requirement to have been resident in the UK for three years.

Kevin Foster: There is regular engagement between the Home Office and the Department for Education on the provision of education for international students.The Department for Education is responsible for determining which students qualify for Home Fee Status and providing information to prospective students regarding their eligibility.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Sheltered Housing

Giles Watling: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to promote housing-with-care.

Giles Watling: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what the Government's policy is on the role of housing-with-care in future housing market provision.

Ms Harriet Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to increase extra care housing options for older people.

Christopher Pincher: I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 49106 on 22 September.

Empty Property

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to assist local authorities to build maintenance capacity in order that void properties are brought rapidly into use.

Christopher Pincher: Local authorities have many powers and strong incentives to tackle empty homes. Through the New Homes Bonus, they receive the same amount for bringing an empty home back into use as building a new one. Billing authorities in England also have the power to charge additional council tax - on top of the standard bill - on properties that have been unoccupied and unfurnished for at least two years, on properties that have been empty for at least five years, and on properties that have been empty for at least 10 years. In certain circumstances, local authorities can exercise powers to take over the management of long-term empty homes in order to bring them back into use in the private rented sector.

Buildings: Safety

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the value of additional funding that will be required by local authorities to effectively administer the proposed new building safety regime, as set out in the Building Safety Bill.

Christopher Pincher: The Building Safety Bill contains provisions to support local authorities to fulfil their functions under the Bill, including to widen the scope of local authorities' charging schemes under the Building Act, and to enable the Building Safety Regulator and the Secretary of State to reimburse a local authority for work carried out by its inspectors in support of the Building Safety Regulator.

Building Safety Fund: Portsmouth South

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many applications to the Building Safety Fund he has received for buildings in Portsmouth South constituency; and how many of those have received a decision as at 16 September 2021.

Christopher Pincher: As of 16 September, 20 buildings in the Portsmouth South constituency have been registered to the Building Safety Fund. Of which, 7 have been notified as eligible for funding.

Rented Housing: Pets

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of removing barriers to renting for people with pets.

Eddie Hughes: The Government recognises the importance of pet ownership to many renting in the private rented sector. We have therefore taken steps to make it easier for responsible tenants to keep pets in the private rented sector, as part of a broader mission to improve life for tenants.We have revised the national Model Tenancy Agreement, the Government's recommended contract for assured shorthold tenancies in the private rented sector, in order to make it easier for tenants with pets to find private landlords who will accept them. The revision aims to strike the balance between protecting private landlords from situations where their properties are damaged by badly behaved pets and ensuring responsible pet owning tenants are not unfairly penalised.

Apprentices and Kickstart Scheme

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to support local authorities to (a) invest in apprenticeships and (b) identify Kickstart placements in their maintenance departments in order to tackle potential skills shortages in those teams.

Neil O'Brien: Officials in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities work closely with their counterparts in the Department for Education and Department for Work and Pensions, to collectively engage at regional and local levels with organisations such as mayoral combined authorities, local enterprise partnerships and local government on skills and labour market challenges.There are currently 637 high-quality employer-designed apprenticeship standards available, supporting employers, including local authorities, to develop the skilled workforces they need, which include maintenance skills. To support employers in creating new apprenticeship opportunities, a higher incentive payment of £3,000 for each new apprentice they recruit as a new employee between 1 April and 30 September 2021, has been introduced in England.In addition, the Department for Work and Pensions is working closely with over 100 local authorities across Great Britain to deliver the Kickstart Scheme. Local authorities are acting as gateway organisations helping to source Kickstart jobs from local employers, with some local authorities also having Kickstart jobs within their own organisations.

Northern Ireland Office

Terrorism: Northern Ireland

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent steps the Government has taken to support community integration in Northern Ireland by helping to ensure that all deaths from the Troubles are commemorated appropriately.

Conor Burns: As outlined in the Command Paper on legacy published in July, the Government remains committed to furthering reconciliation in Northern Ireland and has set out proposals for doing so.These proposals include initiatives that aim to facilitate thoughtful and inclusive commemoration and reflection on the past for people of all backgrounds, building on the Oral History Archive proposed in the Stormont House Agreement.The Government’s proposals reflect, and continue to inform, bilateral and multilateral engagement with key stakeholders - including academic experts and the victims sector. We are still listening to, and carefully considering different views to ensure commemorative measures are appropriate and effective.

Northern Ireland Office: Flags

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, which companies have supplied Union Jack flags to his Department since 2019.

Conor Burns: My Department has not purchased any Union Jack flags since 2019, and therefore, there is no list of relevant companies.

Department for International Trade

Department for International Trade: Flags

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many and what proportion of Union Jack flags purchased by her Department in each of the last two years were manufactured in the UK.

Penny Mordaunt: There were 14 Union Jack flags purchased in the last two years for use by the Department, all of which were manufactured in the United Kingdom.

Department for International Trade: Flags

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade,  which companies have supplied Union Jack flags to her Department since 2019.

Penny Mordaunt: Union Jack flags flown by the Department’s buildings were supplied by: Flag ConsultancyHouse of Flags The Department’s ceremonial Union Jack flags were supplied by; JW Plant – The Flag Company

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Question

Greg Smith: What steps her Department is taking to improve digital infrastructure and connectivity in rural areas.

Julia Lopez: The government is focused on improving digital infrastructure and connectivity in rural areas, with our £5bn Project Gigabit and £1bn Shared Rural Network. As such, the government recently announced more details about our procurement pipeline, specifically, for the 2.2 million hard to reach premises in England in Phases 1 and 2 of the delivery plan.Alongside Project Gigabit and the Shared Rural Network, we are continuing with our strategy to reduce barriers and to promote competition and investment.

Broadband: Disadvantaged

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the absence of pricing standards and regulation for fixed wireless operators on digital exclusion.

Julia Lopez: Pricing regulation in the telecoms sector is a matter for Ofcom, the independent regulator. However, most providers of fixed wireless access price their services in line with comparable fixed line services and on a national basis.In 2019 the Government issued Ofcom with a Statement of Strategic Priorities for telecommunications to which it must have regard when exercising its regulatory functions. This includes tackling harmful industry practices and improving the support available to vulnerable consumers.In order to tackle digital exclusion we have introduced the Broadband Universal Service Obligation to provide a digital safety net, ensuring a minimum level of service to participate in society and the economy, based on information provided by Ofcom. The USO came into effect on 20 March 2020, providing consumers with a legal right to request a decent broadband service, providing download speeds of at least 10 Mbps and upload speeds of 1Mbps. Whilst there is still more to do, the evidence suggests this approach is working as Ofcom’s Online Nations 2021 report showed that people are using online services more than ever with the number of UK homes with internet access increasing to about 94%.

Digital Economy Act 2017

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether it remains Government policy to undertake a formal review of the impact of the changes made to the Electronic Communications Code in the Digital Economy Act 2017.

Julia Lopez: Since the introduction of the reforms in 2017 we have continually listened to feedback from stakeholders on the impact those changes have had on the expansion and improvement of digital networks across the UK. The culmination of this process was a consultation on potential further reform to the Code, published in January 2021. The consultation closed in March 2021 and responses are being considered. The government’s response will be published shortly.

Business: Artificial Intelligence

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with the Information Commissioner's Office on the provision of clear statutory guidance for businesses on algorithmic systems operating in the workplace.

Julia Lopez: The Secretary of State and the Information Commissioner have regular discussions to help ensure the data protection legal framework is functioning effectively and identify areas of concern.The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) publishes a range of information to help organisations comply with their data protection obligations, including guidance for employers at: https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/1064/the_employment_practices_code.pdf.The ICO has also published guidance for organisations on on data protection and artificial intelligence (including algorithms), at: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/key-data-protection-themes/guidance-on-artificial-intelligence-and-data-protection/.Employees who have concerns about the way employers are using their data can contact the ICO’s helpline on 0303 123 1113 or their livechat at https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/live-chat/ for further advice, from Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm.

Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the governance of the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation.

Julia Lopez: The CDEI is an expert government body within the Department for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport. The CDEI is a team of civil servants supported by an expert advisory board which includes globally recognised practitioners from industry, civil society and academia.The CDEI’s current remit, as announced publicly and in Parliament on 10 September 2021, focuses on enabling trustworthy innovation in data and AI in the real-world by developing, testing and refining approaches to data and AI governance. Given this role, and after conducting a consultation on the CDEI’s future functions and statutory status as part of the National Data Strategy, the CDEI’s current governance framework as a team of civil servants supported by an expert advisory board is effective.The CDEI is already working on some of the most pressing issues in the field, from helping the Ministry of Defence to develop ethical principles for the use of AI, to partnering with the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles to embed ethical due diligence in the future regulatory framework for self-driving vehicles.

Data Protection: EU Law

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her Department’s report, Data: A New Direction - Analysis of Expected Impact, published on 10 September 2021, whether the estimate of £1.45 billion for the net direct monetised benefit of the proposals over 10 years in Section 1 Paragraph.4 takes into account of the (a) change in the level of additional compliance costs and (b) retention of trade if EU data adequacy status is maintained.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her Department’s report, Data: A New Direction - Analysis of Expected Impact, published on 10 September 2021, for what reasons her Department is unable to provide a quantitative estimate in cash or percentage terms of the expected change in trade from the proposed changes in data regulation.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her Department’s report, Data: A New Direction - Analysis of Expected Impact, published on 10 September 2021, what assessment her Department has made of whether the proposed changes in data regulation will have a net positive impact on UK trade if EU data adequacy status is (a) maintained and (b) removed.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her Department’s report, Data: A New Direction - Analysis of Expected Impact, published on 10 September 2021, what data her Department used to estimate the number of businesses affected by compliance costs in the table in Section 2 Paragraph 57.

Julia Lopez: The methodology and data used to develop the analysis is described in the report. It accounts for the variation in compliance costs across different scenarios with respect to the UK's EU adequacy decisions. As set out in the report, this analysis is open to consultation. We are seeking further information at this stage in order to robustly quantify these impacts, including on trade, as we build a more detailed impact assessment. The Government would welcome responses to the consultation on this topic.

Data Protection: USA

Owen Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the written statement made on 10 September 2021, HCWS276, what policy proposals the Government has on the future of personal data transfers to the US.

Julia Lopez: International data transfers are vitally important to global economies, societies, and individuals’ lives. Securing data adequacy arrangements with our priority partners will be a significant step in the UK’s ongoing plans to unlock the power of data to drive UK growth and innovation. Given our strong security, economic, and trade relationships, the US is one of the UK’s most important partners. On 26th August, DCMS announced the US as a priority partner to assess for a data adequacy arrangement. We are engaging positively with our US counterparts and progressing the technical assessment to ensure that high standards of data protection would be maintained under an adequacy arrangement. We will provide updates in due course.

Disclosure of Information: Fees and Charges

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has conducted an equality impact assessment of the introduction of fees to exercise data subject access requests.

Julia Lopez: The right of access is one of the fundamental rights in data protection legislation and the government will protect it. Subject access requests are a critical transparency mechanism under this right, allowing individuals to check the accuracy of their personal data, learn more about how their data is being used and with whom their data is being shared, and obtain a copy of the data held about them. The consultation paper Data: A New Direction, published on 10 September, considers whether to re-introduce fees for responding to subject access requests. Any fee regime would be structured fairly so as not to undermine an individual's right to access their personal data. An initial equality impact assessment has been conducted and a final assessment will be developed during and after the consultation process. Through the consultation, the government is seeking views on what, if any, safeguards should apply in order to mitigate any adverse impacts were this proposal to be pursued further.

Events Industry: Coronavirus

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he plans to use Event Research Programmes (ERP) to avoid complete closures of (a) venues and (b) events in the future.

Julia Lopez: The Events Research Programme (ERP) pilot events ran across a range of settings, venues, and activities, with findings informing the return of events in a structured, scientifically and ethically robust manner.The pilot events gathered evidence associated with different settings, including approaches to managing and mitigating transmission risk. They explored how different approaches to social distancing, ventilation, and test-on-entry protocols could ease opening, and maximise participation.The ERP has provided important evidence on the variety of settings and differences within venues such as ventilation systems, the organisation of events, venue design, and attendee behaviour.This has provided an understanding of how different settings and mitigations impact specific risk factors. It also provided significant evidence of the operational, logistical and commercial implications for events of differing types and the heterogeneity found in events settings.The findings from the Events Research Programme continue to inform government policy-making.

Arts and Musicians: EU Countries

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on providing additional financial support to touring (a) artists and (b) music organisations travelling to the European Union.

Julia Lopez: This government recognises the importance of the UK’s creative and cultural industries, not only to the economy and international reputation of the United Kingdom, but also to the wellbeing and enrichment of its people. We want musicians and performers to be able to tour abroad easily.We recognise that challenges remain around touring, and we are continuing to work closely with the industry. In order to support this we have published guidance on GOV.UK, including updated travel advice for travelling to the EU, and business traveller summaries for individual Member States, and developed sector specific ‘landing pages’ for GOV.UK, aimed at the creative sectors, which will allow cultural and creative professionals to easily locate and access guidance that is relevant to them.Member States are principally responsible for deciding the rules governing what work UK visitors can undertake in each Member State. This is why we have spoken to every EU Member State about the importance of touring. From these discussions, 19 out of 27 Member States have confirmed that UK musicians and performers do not need visas or work permits for some short-term tours.We are now actively engaging with Member States, and in particular those that do not allow any visa or permit free touring, to encourage them to more closely align requirements with the UK’s generous rules, which allow creative professionals to tour easily here. DCMS ministers are speaking with their counterparts as part of these discussions, and we are working with the sector to amplify each other’s lobbying efforts.We are looking at options to support individuals and businesses to resume touring with ease. This includes looking carefully at proposals for a new Creative Export Office that could provide further practical help.

Events Industry

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to support venue and music organisations in booking international artists to perform in the UK.

Julia Lopez: The government recognises the world-leading position of the UK music sector and the rich breadth of musical talent across the UK. We also appreciate venues and music organisations’ desire to book international artists to further contribute to the diversity and richness of the UK’s cultural offering.Creative and cultural professionals from non-visa national countries, such as EU Member States and the US, can come to the UK for up to one month without requiring a visa if they are paid by a UK source, or for up to three months without requiring a visa if they are sponsored by a registered tour sponsor. They will not require a visa if they are performing at a “Permit Free Festival”, which includes a range of events from Glastonbury to the London Jazz Festival. If they are not receiving payment from a UK source, EU artists can come to the UK and undertake a range of activities related to their profession, including performances, for up to 6 months visa-free. The UK does not have work permits.We are looking at further options to help support touring, including proposals for a Cultural Export Office that could provide practical help for those looking to tour and export worldwide.

Culture: North of England

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with ministers in the Cabinet Office on the steps being taken by them to include the level of funding on culture in the North as part of the Levelling Up White Paper.

Julia Lopez: The government recognises the crucial role that cultural investment can play in Levelling Up. We are committed to ensuring that areas across England benefit fully from our funding programmes and experience the potential of culture to boost local growth, increase visitor numbers, bolster talent and attract investment. DCMS is engaging closely with other parts of government in the preparation for the Levelling Up White Paper.DCMS has already provided a significant amount of funding for the North. In particular, the Culture Recovery Fund has provided £287,931,077 across the North of England, including £104,944,697 for the Yorkshire and Humber region. In addition, there are 223 ACE National Portfolio Organisations in the North West, Yorkshire and the Northeast regions combined.Looking beyond the pandemic, culture is prioritized as a target for investment in the government’s £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund, and I am confident that the North will benefit significantly from the cultural projects supported by this Fund.

Broadband: Nottinghamshire

Lee Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress his Department has made on the rollout of gigabit broadband in (a) Ashfield constituency and b) Nottinghamshire.

Julia Lopez: Gigabit coverage in Ashfield has increased significantly in the past 12 months, with 15.33% of premises able to access a gigabit-capable broadband service, compared with 1.8% in September 2020. Additionally, 99.1% of premises in Ashfield have access to superfast broadband (>30Mbps) in Ashfield, which exceeds the national average of 96.9%To date, the Better Broadband for Nottinghamshire (BBfN) scheme has delivered 378 gigabit-capable FTTP connections across the constituency. The Hucknall exchange has also been included with Openreach’s latest commercial announcement, with delivery expected to be completed between now and April 2024.We are backing Project Gigabit with £5 billion so hard to reach communities are not left out. Nottinghamshire falls within Phase 2 (Lot 10) of Project Gigabit. Preparations for Phase 2 are already well underway and following the Open Market Review and Public Review, formal procurement should start in November 2022 in Nottinghamshire.Concurrently, premises in rural areas may also be in line for funding through the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme, with up to £210m allocated to the scheme over the next four years to support hard to reach communities. The voucher scheme offers up to £1,500 for homes and £3,500 for businesses to help to cover the costs of installing gigabit broadband to people’s doorsteps when used as part of a group scheme. Home and business owners can check the eligibility of their address and then look up suppliers in their area by going to https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk/.Nottinghamshire has made good use of the scheme so far, seeing 135 voucher connections worth £340,030, with a further 372 vouchers to be connected, totalling £948,290.

Channel Four: Privatisation

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make and publish an assessment of the impact of privatising Channel 4 on businesses and jobs in the UK TV production sector.

Julia Lopez: The government recognises that Channel 4 has consistently delivered on its remit in the decades since being established, including supporting the UK’s independent production sector.Forty years on, this sector is now flourishing. Independent production is increasingly less reliant on income from UK public service broadcasters, and will continue to be in demand for the high-quality, differentiated, distinctively British content it produces. In the 10 years between 2008 and 2018, the contribution of PSB commissions to sector revenue fell from 64% to 42%, due in large part to the growth of international revenue.The consultation opened on 6 July, running for 10 weeks, before closing on 14 September. We are currently analysing responses to our consultation. Once we have answered the questions set out in the consultation, we will know what specific impacts to assess and will therefore be in a position to carry out an impact assessmentWhatever decision we make, it will not compromise this government’s commitment to the independent production sector and wider creative economy. Our support for the UK film and TV industry has helped it bounce back from the impact of the pandemic when it had to shut-down in March 2020. For Q4 2020 the UK film and TV industry had the second highest production spend for any quarter on record - at £1.19 billion.Last year, the government invested over £1 billion through the creative sector tax reliefs which support the UK screen sectors. In High-End TV, the UK has seen a production boom worth over £4 billion since a dedicated tax relief was introduced in 2013.More than 600 productions have been supported by the government’s UK Film and TV Production Restart Scheme, protecting over 55,000 jobs and securing £1.9 billion of production spend.

Channel Four: Privatisation

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government will take to safeguard Channel 4's remit in the event of its privatisation.

Julia Lopez: The Government has recently consulted on whether an alternative ownership model for Channel 4 (but one where it retains a public service remit) may be better for the broadcaster, and better for the country.We want Channel 4 to continue to be a public service broadcaster, and we want it to and continue to contribute socially, economically and culturally to life across the UK. The reason the Government is looking into the future ownership model of Channel 4 is to ensure its sustainability and ability to deliver a PSB remit for decades to come.Our consultation has examined Channel 4’s remit and obligations within this framework. We are currently analysing responses to our consultation, and evidence received through it, to inform our policy-making decisions.

Channel Four: Privatisation

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he plans to (a) undertake and (b) publish an impact assessment on the implications of the privatisation of Channel 4.

Julia Lopez: The government has recently consulted on whether an alternative ownership model for Channel 4 (but one where it retains a public service remit) may be better for the broadcaster, and better for the country.We want Channel 4 to continue to be a public service broadcaster, and we want it to and continue to contribute socially, economically and culturally to life across the UK. But there is a wealth of evidence - including Ofcom’s recent report - on the future challenges facing our traditional linear TV broadcasters. Channel 4 is uniquely constrained in its ability to meet these challenges while it remains under public ownership - particularly because its access to capital and ability to pursue strategic partnership opportunities is limited.Moving Channel 4 into private ownership could allow it to access new capital, take advantage of international opportunities, and create strategic partnerships only available through the private sector.Consulting on the broadcaster’s future has therefore been about ensuring that Channel 4 can continue to contribute to the UK’s success in public service broadcasting for years to come, and how we ensure its ownership model best supports this aimThe consultation opened on 6 July, running for 10 weeks, before closing on 14 September. We are currently analysing responses to our consultation, and evidence received through it, to inform our policy-making decisions. Once we have answered the questions set out in the consultation, we will know what specific impacts to assess and will therefore be in a position to carry out an impact assessment.

Channel Four: Privatisation

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of privatising Channel 4 on Yorkshire’s economy.

Julia Lopez: The government has recently consulted on whether an alternative ownership model for Channel 4 (but one where it retains a public service remit) may be better for the broadcaster, and better for the country.Consulting on the broadcaster’s future is about ensuring that Channel 4 can continue to contribute to the UK’s success in public service broadcasting for years to come, and how we ensure its ownership model best supports this aim.Channel 4’s economic contributions to the nations and regions of the UK is an issue we have consulted on. We value Channel 4’s contribution to levelling up, and we consider a continued and renewed commitment to it may be appropriate to any change of ownership.The consultation opened on 6 July, running for 10 weeks, before closing on 14 September. We are currently analysing responses to our consultation, and evidence received through it, to inform our policy-making decisions. Once we have answered the questions set out in the consultation, we will know what specific impacts to assess and will therefore be in a position to carry out an impact assessment.

Broadband: Low Incomes

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with Ofcom on progress towards securing cheaper broadband tariffs for low income households.

Julia Lopez: In the past 6 months, DCMS - working with Ofcom - have convened two Ministerial roundtables with senior representatives of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to discuss affordability and encourage the introduction of fixed broadband social tariffs for low-income households.Following our engagement with the sector, a range of broadband social tariff packages are now available in the market to support those on low incomes or who receive specific benefits. BT, for example, recently announced a Home Essentials package to launch which will provide fibre and voice services to households in receipt of Universal Credit and certain other means-tested benefits for £15 per month. Virgin, Hyperoptic and other providers are also offering similar packages to assist on low incomes. Between them, these products are available to 99% of households across the country.The government, together with Ofcom, continues to encourage all fixed-line providers to introduce a social tariff offer so as to ensure those on low incomes have affordable access to services and information.